LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN
est in the state of his finances, and live in hopes of his being soon ruined.
We are very much disposed to like our new maid; she knows nothing of a diary, to be sure, which, in our family, is rather against her, but she is to be taught it all. In short, we have felt the inconvenience of being without a maid so long, that we are determined to like her, and she will find it a hard matter to displease us. As yet, she seems to cook very well, is uncommonly stout, and says she can work well at her needle.
Sunday. — My father is glad to hear so good an account of Edward’s pigs, and desires he may be told, as encouragement to his taste for them, that Lord Bolton is particularly curious in his pigs, has had pigstyes of a most elegant construction built for them, and visits them every morning as soon as he rises.
Affectionately yours,
Miss Austen, Godmersham Park,
Faversham.
XIII
My dear Cassandra,
Your letter came quite as soon as I expected,
and so your letters will always do, because I have
